Sara Brummel's specialty is dance, but when the Missouri State University associate professor was given the opportunity to direct, she jumped on it.

Specifically, Brummel says she chose to direct this weekend's production of "Tartuffe" because of the exaggerated physicality Moliere's 1664 play demands.

"I chose it because I have a strong background in ballet and because it was written during the time ballet was becoming a profession, I could use some of that stylization," Brummel says.

Brummel says it was a challenge for her and the students to tackle the play for a variety of reasons.

"The language is very challenging, and because it's not the rhymed couplets, and the long speeches and finding the rhythm and ways to play with tempo and phrasing — I think that's been a really good challenge for the actors to work in a different style," she says.

Brummel says she chose to start with character development through movement, rather than text. The 11 students cast in the play worked on various animal counterparts drawn from the commedia dell'arte to give them ideas on how to build the gestures and movements of their characters. "We also did a couple of scenes where we also played with fan language and the way women use their fans to communicate with different things," she says.

From there, they layered on accents, tempo and phrasing. "It's almost like a musical score," Brummel says.

Brummel says she suspects the play has survived so long for a variety of reasons.

"One, it's funny," she says. It also unmasks hypocrisy, which is as alive and well now as it was when the play was written.

Brummel says the ideas of façade and artificiality even inspired the costumes and set design.

"The wigs are made out of paper and some of the cravats are made out of paper," she says. "The set, the flats are not joined, so it's this kind of façade. The people have the façade of being gracious and wonderful, but things spill out, ease out from behind the mask."

Despite the challenges — including some rehearsals being called on account of snow — Brummel says the students have created what is sure to be a memorable show.

"There are some crazy, crazy scenes in there. It's kind of a hoot," she says.